Maintaining Harmony in the Family
Primary 6 · English
Maintaining Harmony in the Family
Lesson 4 of 4
20 min
Let's begin
Mugisha and his cousin Niyonzima share a bedroom, and lately they argue about everything: the light, the window, even whose turn it is to sweep.
One evening their grandfather listens to them for a while. Then he smiles, goes outside and comes back with a handful of dry sticks. "Let me tell you a very old story," he says.
This fable is more than two thousand years old. It is told here in the words of The Aesop for Children, a book printed in 1919, so some of the English is old-fashioned.
Listen: a free recording is on LibriVox: The Aesop for Children. Choose section 4, read by Katalina Watt; this fable is the first one in it.
Words to know: quarreling (arguing angrily; British English spells it quarrelling), cast about in his mind (thought hard), striking (easy to notice and remember), discord (disagreement), misfortune (bad luck, trouble), moping (sulking), surly (bad-tempered), injure (hurt), divided (split into sides).
The Bundle of Sticks
A certain Father had a family of Sons, who were forever quarreling among themselves. No words he could say did the least good, so he cast about in his mind for some very striking example that should make them see that discord would lead them to misfortune.
One day when the quarreling had been much more violent than usual and each of the Sons was moping in a surly manner, he asked one of them to bring him a bundle of sticks. Then handing the bundle to each of his Sons in turn he told them to try to break it. But although each one tried his best, none was able to do so.
The Father then untied the bundle and gave the sticks to his Sons to break one by one. This they did very easily.
"My Sons," said the Father, "do you not see how certain it is that if you agree with each other and help each other, it will be impossible for your enemies to injure you? But if you are divided among yourselves, you will be no stronger than a single stick in that bundle."
In unity is strength.
One stick alone snaps easily. The same sticks tied together cannot be broken. The father is saying that brothers who quarrel are like loose sticks, and brothers who stand together are like the bundle. Rwandans say the same thing in a proverb: Abishyize hamwe nta kibananira, which means "Nothing defeats those who stand together."
Notice that the fable reports the father's words: he asked one of them to bring him a bundle of sticks, and he told them to try to break it. His exact words were probably "Bring me a bundle of sticks" and "Try to break it." That is the reported speech you learned in lesson 2.
If you cannot solve a quarrel on your own, ask a parent or another adult you trust to help. Asking for help is not weakness. It is one more way of standing together.
Tip
One stick breaks; a bundle holds
When you feel a quarrel starting, picture the bundle of sticks. Ask yourself: am I tying us together, or pulling us apart? Then take the five steps, starting with a slow breath.
Answer each one, then check.
Why could none of the sons break the bundle?
Answer: because the sticks were tied together, so they made each other strong.
What does discord mean?
Answer: disagreement, or quarrelling.
Change this into an I sentence: "You always take my pencil!"
Answer: for example, “I feel annoyed when my pencil is taken without asking, because I need it for my work.”
Report: "Bring me a bundle of sticks," the father said to one of his sons.
Answer: The father asked one of his sons to bring him a bundle of sticks. Told is also correct.
Mugisha and Niyonzima argue about the light at night. Suggest a fair solution.
Answer: for example, the light goes off at nine o'clock on school nights, and whoever wants to read later uses a small torch. Any answer that works for both boys is fair.
What you learned today
Sources and credits
This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Quick check
What happened when the father untied the bundle and gave his sons the sticks one by one?
